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Philip A. Hart

Senator Philip A. Hart

Philip A. Hart was a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Michigan from 1959 - 1976. He was born in Bryn Mawr, Mongomery County, PA on December 10, 1912 and attended Waldron Academy and parochial schools. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1934 and from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor in 1937. He was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1938. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army from 1941 until discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel of Infantry. He was wounded during the D-Day assault on Utah Beach in Normandy. He served as Michigan Lieutenant Governor 1955 - 1958 and was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1958 and served until his death on December 26, 1976. The third Senate Office Building was named for Senator Hart in 1987.

Senator Philip A. Hart was instrumental in the establishment of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Through his tireless efforts, the legislature of the United States of America saw fit to protect the magnificent Sleeping Bear Dunes area in perpetuity...

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) the Congress finds that certain outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations and ancient glacial phenomena, exist along the mainland shore of Lake Michigan and on certain nearby islands...and that such features ought to be preserved in their natural setting and protected from developments and uses which would destroy the scenic beauty and natural character of the area."